This decent 2018 recruiting class ended on a nice up note with the verbal commitment and signing of 4* ATH/Running Back Mychale Salahuddin.  We needed that to happen for a few reasons – first because we need a good, possible, star RB on our roster.  He tried faking Pitt out though – from the Post Gazette.

But perhaps more importantly grabbing a last-minute 4* recruit kept this class from becoming the first recruiting class in 15 years to not have any 4* or 5* recruits in it.  That may sound minor to you but it really isn’t.  In recruiting perception is everything – and the best recruits want to play next to the other best recruits.

So we end up with 20 new Panthers and with a 36th ranked class. As much as I try I can’t get very excited about this. We got some nice recruits – the aforementioned Salahuddin above is the gem. We’ll have some solid future starters out of it I’m sure.  We’ll even have a kid or two who will get post-season honors.  That happens every year at Pitt.

But the bald truth is that successful Pitt football teams run on stardom power, not on the backs of 3* recruits. Look back over the last 15 years and see what the better seasons had in common.  In those early years we had Big Name stars carrying the teams. To name a few past years

In 2003 we had Rutherford throwing for 3700 yards and 37 TDs to get eight wins and All-American Larry Fitzgerald being the star receiver he was;

In 2004 Tyler Palko came on the scene and tossed for over 3000 yards and 27 TDs and we won eight games.

2008 we won nine  games when LeSean McCoy ran for 1488 yards and 21 TDs.  You catch the drift here; the better the star power the better we play as a team and win more games.

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